Woodbury County

Cpl. Kenneth K. Morris

 
 

 

NEWS FROM OUR BOYS.

MADE CORPORAL

Scott Morris, son of Mrs. Floyd Morris, 1706 Fall avenue, has been promoted to the rank of corporal with a technician's rating at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. Another son, Floyd Morris, is a sergeant in the armored force school at Fort Knox, Kentucky. A third son, Kenneth Morris, a corporal in the air corps, was reported missing in action in the Philippine area following the fall of Corregidor.

Source: The Sioux City Journal, August 27, 1942

East Grad Is War Prisoner

Corporal Kenneth Morris Reported Held by Japanese

Reported missing after the fail of Corregidor, Corporal Kenneth K. Morris is now a prisoner of war, held by the Japanese government in a Philippine military prison camp.

Although the report has been released officially at this time by the government, his wife, Alice, residing at 1501 Glendale boulevard, previously had received two form cards directly from the prison camp. At that time the government could not affirm the report and took photo static copies of the cards, Mrs. Morris, however, identified the signature as that of her husband and felt quite certain that he had send the cards. The last letter she had received from him was in April, 1942, when he was stationed on Mindanao.

Corporal Morris, a graduate of East High School, served three years in the infantry and in July, 1941, was transferred to the air corps. He had been stationed in the Philippines since October, 1941.

Source: The Sioux City Journal, December 2, 1943 (photo included)

In Jap Prisons Since May 1942

Cpl. Kenneth K. Morris, 25, has been released from the Japanese prison camp at Osaka and is on his way home, he notified his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Morris, 2711 18th Street, Thursday night in a telegram relayed through the war department.

Cpl. Morris, whose wife Alice lives at 3007 Melrose Avenue was taken prisoner in May, 1942, when Corregidor fell. He was imprisoned in the camp at Davao, on Mindanao, until May 1944, when allied bombing of Mindanao forced the Japanese to evacuate the prisoners to Japan.

Mr. and Mrs. Morris last heard from their son, a former East High School pupil, in January, when they received a form card stating that he was in good health. His telegram Thursday said his condition was only “fair”, however.

Cpl. Morris enlisted in February 1937 at Fort Lincoln, N.D. and served three years in the infantry before being transferred to the air corps in July 1941. He was sent to the Philippines in October 1941.

Source: The Sioux City Journal, September 22, 1945

Kenneth Kingston Morris was born Oct. 16, 1919 to Floyd W. and Myrtle Ratekin Morris. He died Jan. 30, 1990 and is buried in Saint Ottos Cemetery, Webster, SD.

Source: ancestry.com